Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

See you next year!

Holiday Feasting - A Cautionary Tale

During the final few weeks of pregnancy, the baby gains an average of a half pound per week.  When a woman eats a wholesome diet, including plenty of protein, vegetables, fruits and whole-grains, while limiting simple carbohydrates and sugars, her body will NOT grow a baby that is too big to give birth to!  

If the woman over-endulges, however, eating too much/too sweet/too rich/or too junky- foods, baby can (and will) gain much more than a half-pound per week!

This is my sweet, gigantic baby.  Almost 11 lbs!

During my third pregnancy, I ate a very good diet AND lots of dessert.  I felt confident I could push out a 10 pound baby.  I never imagined he would be almost 11 pounds, though!  While pushing, I felt pressure in the front by my bladder and in the back by my rectum - at the same time!  The realization that my baby had a huge head became very clear to me as it scraped down my pelvic outlet!  I finally got his head out and my midwife began dealing with a bad shoulder dystocia.  We got lucky - he began breathing without extensive resuscitative efforts.  After that birth, I was unable to get up from a sitting position without rolling to one side, a sign of a separated symphysis pubis.  It took a lot of binding and lots of time for it to heal.  I vowed to myself that if I ever had another baby I would NOT eat sugar!

Trust me on this one, it is not fun to push put a ginormous baby! Enduring the maneuvers to free a shoulder dystocia and anxiety of waiting while your baby is resuscitated is not fun! The 6-months to a year of sacro-illiac and symphi pain are not what you want. The trauma to your vagina and time healing, with nerve sensitivity, rectocele and/or cystocele are not the lasting reminders you want to remember your birth.  If you end up "needing" a c-section, due to cephalo-pelvic disproportion (CPD) (baby head too big to fit through pelvis) the painful recovery, scarring, adhesions, self-doubt and worry are not worth another helping of dessert!

Please! Save yourself and your baby time, pain and suffering! Do not over-endulge during the holidays, or any other time!  Eat smart!  Eat plenty of protein, vegetables and raw fruits.  Do not eat white flour and simple carbohydrates.  Avoid cookies, cake, pie, pastry, donuts, soda pop, ice cream or candy! 

This does not mean you cannot celebrate!  Please, do enjoy the holidays!  If you are at a holiday party, have an extra helping of turkey, deviled eggs or veggies and dip instead of sweets.

You can thank me later.

Blessings!

:) Deborah

Vitamin & Mineral Supplements

New information comes out about vitamins, minerals and our bodies' processing of those substances all the time. Supplements that used to be recommended as "the best" are put in question and new favorites emerge.  To help make good choices in supplements, I have compiled information for my clients.  I hope this will be useful to many other people as well.

Natural vs. Synthetic Supplements

Natural vitamins, minerals and enzymes occur mixed with other nutrients that work together for our health and well-being.  If one part is missing, or is fractionated, or is in the incorrect form or the incorrect amount, entire chains of metabolic processes cannot and will not proceed normally. Only nature can provide us with naturally-occurring vitamins as found in real, wholesome organic foods.  

Mainstream marketing has created the myth that synthetic vitamins and inorganic minerals may be isolated individually, and that we can derive total natural benefit from taking these fractionated chemical creations.  Many of these synthetic ingredients are derived from coal tar, a known carcinogen.  Almost all commercial supplements contain synthetic ingredients, which can cause un-intended side effects, blockage of uptake of natural nutrients and deficiency diseases.  

Synthetic	Natural
“Natural” (may be 10% natural and 90% synthetic and still allowed to use “natural” on the label.	“100 percent natural” “100 percent plant-based” “100 percent animal-based”
Individual vitamins/minerals listed as ingredients Example “Vitamin C”	Foods listed as ingredients Example “acerola cherry powder”
Ingredients include: acetate, acid, bitartrate, chloride, gluconate, hydrochloride, “hcl”, nitrate, palmitate, succinate
Words ending in “-ide”, “-ate” or	One exception to the “-ate” rule is Folate (natural Vitamin B9) vs. Folic Acid (synthetic B9)
Words beginning with “dl-”

Common Synthetic Vitamins to Avoid

• Vitamin A: Acetate and Palmitate
• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin
• Pantothenic Acid: Calcium D-Pantothenate
• Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
• Vitamin B12: Cobalamin
• PABA (Para-aminobenzoic Acid): Aminobenzoic Acid
• Folic Acid: Pteroylglutamic Acid
• Choline: Choline Chloride, Choline Bitartrate
• Biotin: d-Biotin
• Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): Ascorbic Acid
• Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol
• Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate

Prenatal Vitamins

Your goal should be to obtain all the nutrients you need from your food.  Improvements in food choices should be made when you decide to conceive or as soon as you know you are pregnant.  Supplements should be thought of as extra assurance that you are getting all you need and never used instead of good foods.  Avoiding the artificial ingredients listed above, I can no longer recommend many of the vitamin supplements I used to suggest!  The only prenatal multivitamins I can recommend include: RAW Prenatal, MyKind Organics Prenatal Multi, and MyKind Organics Once Daily Prenatal Multi, all from Garden of Life; and Prenatal Gummy from Natures Dynamics.

Folate vs. Folic Acid

Since the 1950’s and 60’s, the role of Vitamin B9 in preventing birth defects like spina bifida and other neural-tube and midline defects has been known.  The US government has attempted to reduce the number of babies born with these defects by requiring the “fortification” of processed foods with Vitamin B9 and other nutrients.  Foods like white bread, cereals, crackers and almost all other grain products have added Folic Acid, the synthetic form of Vitamin B9, to comply with the government requirements.  This was a well-meaning step in the right direction.  However, 50 years of Folic Acid exposure has revealed problems with the synthetic vitamin.

Folic Acid (synthetic Vitamin B9) is added to “fortified” foods and cheap vitamin supplements.  Folic Acid is absorbed by the body and broken down in the liver for use.  This time- and energy-consuming process uses up other nutrients in the process, and can lead to other vitamin deficiencies and liver-related problems.  Folic Acid also “clogs up” the folate receptors on our cells, so natural Folate cannot be absorbed.

Folate (naturally occurring Vitamin B9) comes from foods like dark green vegetables, leafy greens, fruits and vegetables.  Folate is assimilated by the body in the bowel and made available for use immediately.  This process does not deplete the body of other nutrients and does not burden the liver.

What to do?

• Increase Folate intake by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. 
• Avoid processed foods and vitamins listing “Folic Acid” in the ingredients. 
• Switch to a supplement with Folate instead of Folic Acid.
• Avoid hormonal birth control, Methotrexate, drugs which increase homocysteine such as Nitrous Oxide (mostly used in dentistry), and antacids.
• Reduce or eliminate dietary intake of gluten, wheat and dairy.
•  Avoid cooking, drinking, storing and heating in any type of plastic container.

 This information is vital for people with a genetic mutation called “MTHFR.”  People with MTHFR are at a higher risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and many other diseases, as well as being more likely to have a baby with a midline defect like spina bifida, cleft palate, tongue-tie, etc.

Iron Supplements

Most prescription or over-the-counter “iron pills” and cheap prenatal vitamins contain ferrous sources of iron.  Just look at the label and you will find ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate or other ferrous form of iron.  Taking these pills is like swallowing rust.  They slow the bowel transit time and cause constipation.  They are hard for the liver to process, creating a back-log of work for the liver.  The liver has a lot of work to do during pregnancy and it doesn’t need to be bogged down with ferrous iron processing!  Also, the liver dumps waste into to bowel for removal.  But the constipation caused by the ferrous iron slows the bowel so much that the waste is re-absorbed into the bloodstream where it ends up back in the liver.  The poor liver is already taxed by the extra work due to pregnancy, ferrous iron, and now it has to re-process the same waste over and over.  The result can be liver problems like cholestasis of pregnancy, jaundice or persistent or slow-to-resolve anemia!  Please don’t tax your liver by ingesting ferrous iron.  Check the label of your prenatal vitamins.  If you see the word ferrous on the label throw them away and get something better!

If you need to increase iron intake to correct anemia, do it with food first, supplements second.  Foods that raise the hemoglobin include:

• All the dark green vegetables like broccoli, green peppers and asparagus
• Leafy salad greens like romaine lettuce, spinach and kale
• Dried apricots (containing the most easily assimilated form of dietary iron!),
• Raisins, prunes, dried black cherries
• Sea vegetables,
• Molasses, especially black-strap molasses (careful, it is sweet!),
• Nutritional yeast - sprinkle on food (delicious on popcorn!)
• Egg yolks, and
• Organ meats like organic liver.

If you are already consuming these foods and are still anemic, or need to get your hemoglobin numbers up quickly, you can supplement with concentrated herbal iron sources:

• Alfalfa tablets or capsules - up to 2 or 3 with each meal.  I think of these as a compressed salad!
• Liquid chlorophyll - Liquid chlorophyll comes in plain and spearmint flavored.  I think the plain tastes like grass clippings pulled them fresh off the lawn mower blade!  But some people prefer the plain to the spearmint.  They both work great.  Put a tablespoon in a glass of water once or twice a day.
• Chlor-Oxygen drops, follow the label for dosage, it is much more concentrated than regular liquid chlorophyll
• Nettles tea - high in iron and many other minerals, drink at least a cup a day
• Red Raspberry leaf tea - also high in minerals, good for pregnancy and all times of life
• Vitamin C - 500 mg per day, helps with iron assimilation
• Hemaplex capsules, 1 per day
• Floradix liquid iron, up to 2 teaspoons, twice a day
• Ferrofood from Standard Process, follow label instructions
• Homeopathic ferrum phos - a homeopathic cell salt that enhances iron absorption, once or twice a day
• Spirulina
• Chlorella
• Dandelion leaf (good for the liver, too), up to 3 capsules per day
• Yellow doc tincture - up to 3 dropperful three times per day (high in iron and supports the liver)

Calcium & Magnesium

“Chelated” minerals have been combined with amino acids to form mineral complexes.  Chelated minerals are more absorbable and useable by the body.  Look for a chelated calcium/magnesium supplement in a 2:1 ratio.  That means there are 2 milligrams of calcium for every 1 milligram of magnesium.

I hope this information is useful to you!

Blessings!
:) Deborah

Deborah’s Diary - Postpartum Housecalls and a Boy for Evelyn

Monday I drove 1.5 hours each way to check on the new baby and her mama.  They were both doing well, baby nursing great and mama amazed how different home birth was. She commented how much she liked being able to move around and get into any position she wanted.  It was a lovely visit.  My 16 year old son drove me there and back so he could get more supervised driving time to count toward his driver license.  We had a nice time chatting during the trip.

Tuesday I had to hustle to get my home-office paperwork done and drive to my Springfield office by 10 o'clock am for my first scheduled checkup.  I was pleased to see progress on the office remodeling, and the construction workers had been considerate enough to cover my furniture with plastic to keep the dust off. At 11 am I drove to the north side of Springfield for a home visit, followed by another home visit down on the south side at noon. I grabbed a quick lunch and went back to the office for more checkups, finishing at 6:00pm.  

The Springfield chapter of the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) met at my office at 7pm, construction mess and all!  If anyone has had a c-section or other traumatic birth experience, I hope you will find a support group as great as this one! The discussion tonight was informative and reassuring.  I wish more people could have been there!

I was home and in bed by midnight.  Around 1:00am I awoke to the windchime sound of my text alert.  Evelyn, my second-time client, was texting to say she had one contraction.  If a first-time mother told me she had one contraction I wouldn't think much of it, but this five-time homebirther knew her body.  And at 40 weeks, 6 days, she was *ready* to have this baby!  I replied that I was ready when she needed me and tried to get back to sleep.  At 3:00am she texted again that she was too uncomfortable to sleep.  I wanted more sleep so I alerted my apprentices and rolled back over.  I slept only lightly, though, so when her husband texted me at 6:37am that the contractions were stronger and he wanted me to come, I leaped out of bed, dressed and was on the road only ten minutes later.

My apprentice who would be acting in the role of Primary Midwife Under Supervision was herself almost 36 weeks pregnant, and has a history of having her babies early.  To take some of the physical workload off of her (and me, I'm getting old!) another apprentice was also coming to lift, carry, clean and do the charting for us.

I arrived at the house after a short drive (short for me, anyway) and found Evelyn squatting in the driveway, supported by her husband.  I waved and drove past them to the house.  Inside was all excitement.  Grandma was helping one child finish her breakfast.  Grandpa was looking for someone's lost shoe.  Two kids were zipping around trying to find beach towels and swimming suits.  The floor was strewn with oats and the sink full of dishes.  It was a mild form of chaos!  No wonder Evelyn had escaped outside to labor.

I carried my supplies into the master bedroom and started setting up, glancing out the window every couple minutes to keep an eye on the laboring couple.  They were walking up and down the drive, stopping to squat through a contraction every 3 or 4 minutes.  My apprentice, Jess', car came down and soon she was helping me with setup.  "Let's put some supplies in our pockets and receiving blankets under our shirts just in case she starts pushing out there and can't get to the house in time," I advised.  "And be ready when the kids leave.  I predict she will come inside and have a baby as soon as they are gone!"  I sent Jess out with my doppler to get hearttones.  She returned with Crystal, my Primary apprentice for this birth, who arrived as the grandparents were loading the kids into their car.  The birth team was in place!

As predicted, Evelyn came into the house as soon as her parents' car left the driveway.  She went straight into the master bath.  We placed chux underpads on her bed, as she planned to give birth side-lying in bed.  From the bathroom, we heard her working through transition and groaning that she lost the mucus plug.  After the next contraction she got on the bed in a semi-reclining position.  My apprentice's pregnant belly hung over the bed as she stretched the doppler to Evelyn's belly.  Everything was going smoothly except Crystal was working extra hard!  Baby's hearttones were great and Evelyn was completely focused on her labor.  

After only a couple minutes, Evelyn whispered that she was already feeling some pressure.  She was too uncomfortable to stay in bed, though that was where she planned to give birth.  She crawled out and knelt on the floor, leaning forward on the side of the bed and gave her first push.  Crystal and I half-knelt and bent to get a good view of her perineum.  Lucky for Crystal, we were not stooped over very long.  The baby's head crowned after only two or three pushes and was born.  The whole baby emerged easily and we pushed it forward for Evelyn to reach down and pull him up.  "I can't believe it!  I had the baby already?!" Evelyn whispered breathlessly, astonished how much faster this birth had gone compared to her last birth.  We helped her into bed and her husband climbed in with her.  Baby boy, 8 lbs 3 oz, perineum intact, everything perfect.  As we left the family bonding in bed, we overheard Evelyn announcing to her husband, "Never again!"  LOL!  It may look easy, but it sure doesn't feel easy!

I stopped and got some breakfast and started another long drive to check on Sunday's mama and baby again. I do a lot of follow-up visits, standard care for my practice.  I usually do a postpartum housecall on day 1, day 3, day 7, and 3 weeks after the birth, but more often if needed.  The 6-week postpartum checkup is back at my office.  I don't mind all of these visits. It's just part of my work. 

This was a busy week, but I feel so blessed to be able to do this work.  It is my honor and privilege to serve these women in birth.  I hope I am able to do it for many years to come.  

Me with 'Evelyn' and her sweet baby!

Alternative to the Flu Vaccine

It is an annual topic of discussion in my practice, "Do I have to get a flu shot?"  In the workplace, women are pressured and even bullied by their bosses and co-workers to get the shot.  Many companies offer 'free flu shots' to entice employees to get the vaccine, or shame those who refuse the vaccine by making them wear face masks that employees who get the shot do not have to wear.  Pregnant women seem to have a natural suspicion that getting a vaccine during pregnancy could be harmful to their unborn babies, and seek information to support their decision not to get the shot.  These women can rest assured that the evidence is on their side.

Vaccination for the flu during pregnancy has proven to be dangerous and ineffective.  Even the Center for Disease Control reports the flu vaccine is at most 14% effective in preventing the flu. In addition to being ineffective, the flu vaccine contains additives and preservatives that are harmful.  The most dangerous of these include Formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing agent, Aluminum, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and seizures, and Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that can result in brain injury and autoimmune disease.  In 2009, the flu vaccine caused a 700% increase in miscarriages!  

The flu vaccine actually causes a decrease in the body's natural immune function, making you more likely to get the flu or catch a cold in the days following the vaccine.

Clearly, the flu vaccine is not the best way to avoid the flu.  Achieve immunity by strengthening your body’s own immune system instead.  As an alternative to the flu vaccine, follow this Anti-Flu Protocol:

_________________________________________________________________

Anti-Flu Protocol

Daily supplements:

• RAW Prenatal (or other herbal-based, whole-food prenatal vitamin)

• Vitamin C: 1000 mg

• Vitamin D: 2000 iu

• Chelated Calcium:Chelated Magnesium: 2000mg:1000mg minimum per day

• Garlic: 1-2 capsules or tablets, twice a day

• Water: 3-4 quarts of clear water, may add fresh-squeezed lemon juice or liquid chlorophyll for an extra immune boost

• Avoid junk foods: White flour, white rice, cookies, cakes, pies, pastry, donuts, soda, ice cream and candy all decrease immunity and make you much more susceptible to the flu. 

________________________________________________________________

What if you are exposed or likely to be exposed while traveling?

If you are exposed to someone who is sick or if you are traveling, immediately increase your intake of vitamin C to 2000 or 3000 mg per day, vitamin D to 3000 to 4000 iu per day, and garlic to 3-4 capsules three times per day.  Make you water intake a priority.  Continue this increased protocol for a week after the exposure or a week after you return from your travels.

What if you get the flu?

Even among people following the above protocol, there will be an occasional case of the flu.  Fortunately, during pregnancy the baby is usually protected from the flu because the virus cannot cross the placenta.  Dehydration, lack of nutrition and high fever are the main concerns regarding flu during pregnancy. 

Medical treatment for the flu (Tamiflu) contains harmful chemicals and has side effects that are as bad as the flu itself.  Antibiotics do not work on the flu because it is caused by a virus.  Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, not the flu.  Taking antibiotics during the flu will only decrease your immune system and cause the flu to last longer.  If you are one of the unfortunate who come down with the flu, the following treatments will help minimize the symptoms you get over the flu more quickly.

• Increase your intake of vitamin C to 3000 mg per day, vitamin D to 4000 iu per day, and garlic to 3-4 capsules three times per day.
• Hydrate: Make sure you keep sipping water, herbal tea and broth throughout the day to avoid dehydration.  Staying hydrated will help the body fight the infection, remove toxins efficiently and decrease fever.
• If you get a fever, check your temperature every hour or two.  If it gets over 103 degrees for more than an hour, take a lukewarm bath and allow your skin to air-dry instead of toweling.  Or use a squirt-bottle to wet your hair and allow it to air-dry.  The cooling effects of evaporation should reduce your fever naturally.  Repeat as needed.  If your fever does not respond to this treatment, consult your healthcare provider.
• If you vomit, you will have approximately 10-15 minutes during which you will not vomit again.  Eat a bite of yogurt or drink some water, tea or broth immediately after vomiting, so your body will have a few minutes to absorb the fluids and nutrients.
• Stay home!
• Rest!
• There are many helpful homeopathic remedies that will help you get over flu and treat the symptoms.  Consult a good homeopathic guide or practitioner for which one(s) fit your symptoms.

Blessings of Wellness!
:) Deborah


Sources:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20614424  http://www.gaia-health.com/ 

http://kellybroganmd.com/article/rejecting-flu-vaccine-in-pregnancy/

http://www.naturalnews.com/030657_vaccines_miscarriages.html

Deborah’s Diary - Muddy Windshield

There is mud on my windshield.  It has been there for days.  I haven’t had time to get my oil changed and my washer fluid refilled, so I dare not use my windshield wipers to remove it...  

It rained mud down on my car the other night when I was called to repair a torn perineum for a mother who had an unassisted homebirth.  I didn’t get home until 1:30am and went straight to bed.  

The next day I woke early and made my rounds, doing house calls for postpartum mothers and newborns and working my way to my office in town for prenatal checkups.  I got home after midnight again and still hadn’t had time to go through a carwash or refill the washer fluid, so the mud remained.

The next morning I left home at 7:00am and drove an hour to do a home visit for a postpartum mother.  As I was leaving to go to a second home visit, I got a call from a client who was about a week before her due date.  I had helped her with her two previous births and have never witnessed two births more alike than those.  So when she said she was at work but having regular contractions that were hard to talk through I asked her to go home and prepare for the birth.  I would send my apprentice to be with her.  I planned to head to her house after I finished the second home visit.  Half way through the visit, the mother texted me a list of contraction times about five minutes apart.  I quickly left and drove quickly to her house, about 40 minutes away.

This birth, the third for this mama, took a little longer than her first two.  She soaked in the birth tub while we quietly chatted about work, family, and relatives.  Because she had torn with each of the first two births, I encouraged her to push in a different position this time.  That plan to ease baby out slowly went out the window when the urge to push came!  She pushed the baby out very quickly and suffered another perineal tear.  Her baby was a gorgeous 7 lb 0 oz girl.  

After an hour or so of skin-to-skin nursing in the birth pool, daddy took baby while we helped mama out of the tub and my apprentice guided her to the bathroom.  My apprentice alerted me that there was a trickle bleed that wasn’t stopping.  I got my flashlight and took a look as she sat on the toilet.  Blood was trickling, but not from the tear.  I guarded her uterus as I attempted to express any clots.  There were none.  Strange, I thought.  I got my flashlight to look at the blood again and saw something large, smooth and pink protruding from her vagina.  Her cerivx.  A prolapse!  

I quickly called my apprentice to bring the sleeping bag to the bathroom and make a pallet for mama to lay on.  “I can see your cervix sticking out and I am going to put it back where it belongs,” I told the mama.  She looked scared.  “It will go right back where it should be and the bleeding will stop,” I confidently predicted while praying it would be true.  I guided the mother onto the fluffy mat my apprentice had prepared and asked my apprentice to get me a sterile glove.  Mama was now laying on the mat on the floor, cervix visible at the introitus.  I didn’t feel like waiting for the sterile glove, so I felt, externally, through her abdomen for the firm mass of her uterus and found it easily.  I held it firmly and pulled/pressed it up toward her ribcage, pulling the cervix along with it, up inside her vagina and back where it should be.  Just then, my apprentice returned with the gloves.  I quickly traded my soiled gloves for sterile and did a quick internal exam to confirm that the cervix was indeed in the proper position.  Then I checked and re-checked her uterus for firmness and position.  It stayed normal.  Bleeding normal.  I assured the mother that everything I was seeing was normal and all good signs.  

After many minutes had passed and all signs were good, we had her slowly and gently sit up, then kneel, then climb onto a waiting office chair with wheels.  We wheeled her to her bed and put her in it, with hips propped a couple inches so gravity would help keep her uterus where it should be, and reunited her with baby for more nursing.  

Hours later, with everyone fed and watered, mother assessed and re-assessed, newborn exam complete, repair of second degree laceration complete, mom and baby tucked safely into bed, I got back into my car and drove home, peeking between the blobs of mud on the windshield.

Another busy day, another successful homebirth.  I arrived home after midnight again, sterilized instruments, started a load of laundry, showered and fell into bed.  

...This work can be messy, but it is what I am called to do.  Someday I'll have time to get my car washed, but for now it remains muddy.

Anemia of Pregnancy and Ferrous Iron Supplements (part 3 of 3)

Welcome back for the final episode in this three part series on Anemia of Pregnancy.  We began by talking about how our bodies make an extra three to four quarts of blood during the first 30 weeks of pregnancy, and how that naturally results in mid-pregnancy anemia for many women.  We talked about boosting iron levels using food and herbal iron supplements.  Last week we talked about using exercise to stimulate hemoglobin production.  This week we will discuss some supplements to avoid and why they are not helpful.

Sometimes women transfer to my care after several visits with a physician.  Inevitably, they have been prescribed iron pills to cure their Anemia of Pregnancy.  These prescription or over-the-counter pills contain ferrous sources of iron.  Just look at the label.  You will find ferrous sulfate or ferrous gluconate or many other ferrous form of iron.  Taking these pills is like swallowing rust.  They slow the bowel transit time and cause constipation.  They are hard for the liver to process, creating a back-log of work for the liver.  The liver has a lot of work to do during pregnancy and it doesn’t need to be bogged down with ferrous iron processing!  Also, the liver dumps waste into to bowel for removal.  But the constipation caused by the ferrous iron slows the bowel so much that the waste is re-absorbed into the bloodstream where it ends up back in the liver.  The poor liver is already taxed by the extra work due to pregnancy, ferrous iron, and now it has to re-process the same waste over and over.  The result can be liver problems like cholestasis of pregnancy, jaundice or persistent or slow-to-resolve anemia!  Please don’t tax your liver by ingesting ferrous iron.  Check the label of your prenatal vitamins.  If you see the word ferrous on the label throw them away and get something better!  

If you have already been taking ferrous iron and you are constipated, follow these steps to get your bowel moving!  You don’t want those toxins to be re-absorbed into your bloodstream, you want to move them OUT!

• Stop taking the ferrous iron!  If you are anemic, see part 1 for the list of iron-rich foods that you should be eating every day.  If you must have an iron supplement, choose from the natural supplements listed in part 1.
• Increase clear water intake to three quarts per day (not counting teas, soups or other liquids).
• Make sure you are eating a minimum of a large salad with dark leafy greens every day, plus three raw fruits or vegetables.  
• Do a minimum of 20 minutes of brisk walking per day.  This is to get your bowel moving, not just for raising the hemoglobin (see part 2).
• If you are still constipated, you can use magnesium to temporarily get things moving - but you MUST continue to do the steps above or you will return to constipation in the end.  Get some magnesium tablets or powder (like Natural Calm).  Take one tablet (or ½ t powder) at bedtime the first night.  You should have a bowel movement the next morning.  If not, increase the magnesium by one tablet (or ½ t powder) per night until you have a bowel movement first thing in the morning.  Use that dosage for a week, then slowly decrease the magnesium over the next week or two until you are not taking any.  If you ever have a random day of constipation in the future, you can quickly remedy it with magnesium.  WARNING: Magnesium works by slightly irritating the lining of the bowel, causing the body to flood water backwards through the system (from bloodstream to bowel, the reverse of the way it is supposed to flow).  This robs your body of water and can cause dehydration.  Do not take magnesium unless you are drinking at least  three quarts of water each day.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about Anemia of Pregnancy over these past three weeks!  In summary, a drop in hemoglobin in early to mid-pregnancy is a good sign the blood volume is expanding as it should.  It is not an illness or disease.  You can support your body as it builds the extra three to four quarts of blood by eating a diet high in organic iron-rich foods.  If you need an iron supplement, choose one containing organic plant-based natural iron sources instead of the rust found in ferrous sources of iron.  Go for a brisk walk at least twice a week.  By the third trimester, your blood volume will be expanded  to just the right amount and your hemoglobin reading will show that you are not anemic.  This will lead to a healthier baby and an easier labor, birth and postpartum.

Blessings!

:) Deborah

Anemia of Pregnancy and Exercise (part 2 of 3)

Welcome back to our three-part discussion about anemia of pregnancy.  Last week we talked about the natural expansion of blood volume, anemia, hemoglobin, iron-rich foods and supplements.

In addition to increasing iron-rich foods in your diet and taking herbal iron supplements, you can also boost your hemoglobin with exercise.

Now, I am NOT the exercise police!  I am a couch potato.  I don’t enjoy exercising.  I don’t even like thinking about exercising.  

Studies show that only 20 minutes of exercise twice a week results in an increase in hemoglobin!  This information that gets me off the couch and moving!  The exercise must be enough to get you breathing heavy.  When your muscles need more oxygen to work, the body responds by increasing the heart rate and breathing to supply more oxygen more quickly.  But the body doesn’t want to work that hard, so it also builds more hemoglobin so the next time you exercise it doesn’t have to raise the heart rate and respiration rate as much.  Amazing!  This is why when you first begin to exercise you are exhausted very quickly, but after a couple weeks of regular exercise you can do so much more with ease.  Your body has increased the hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the body more quickly and efficiently.

Swimming is also a fantastic exercise to raise your hemoglobin! It is easy on your body and fun to do.  When swimming make sure to only do the freestyle or breaststroke, if you’re feeling adventurous you can do the butterfly, but that stroke is hard enough when you’re not pregnant! Avoid scuba-diving because the pressure changes can be too much for the bag of water to withstand.  Doing any inverted underwater moves, like handstands or somersaults, has been shown to cause baby to flip to breech, so I would avoid that as well (unless your baby is breech already and you want to turn him back to head-down!)  Also, make sure to drink plenty of water after any sort of exercise to keep you and baby hydrated!

Another great effect of exercise and the resulting hemoglobin increase is that labor will be easier.  Oxygen will be more abundantly supplied to your uterus (a large muscle doing a lot of work) and your baby!  This means the baby will fare better during labor, your contractions will hurt less and your birth will be easier.

Hopefully this information will inspire you to get out a walk today.  At a minimum, walk briskly away from home for 10 minutes, then turn around and walk briskly back.  That’s all it takes to signal your body to build more hemoglobin.

I’ll meet you back here next week when we will discuss iron supplements to avoid during pregnancy and why.

I’m going for a walk now!

Blessings!

:) Deborah

Anemia of Pregnancy and Iron Foods (part 1 of 3)

Why do we stereotype pregnant women as tired and dizzy?  Why are pregnant women more likely to become anemic?  What is hemoglobin and why should I care about having it checked during pregnancy?  The answer may be “anemia.”  I will discuss these questions and more in this three-part series on Anemia of Pregnancy.

Every cell in the body needs oxygen, which is delivered on the red blood cells.  They contain a lot of iron, and oxygen sticks to iron like a magnet.  The hemoglobin check is one way to measure the body’s oxygen delivery system.

During pregnancy, the body must make three to four quarts of extra blood to support the growing baby and protect the mother from hemorrhage after the birth.  Almost a gallon of extra blood is created in the first 30 weeks of pregnancy!  First the body adds more “water” to the blood to expand the volume of blood.  Like adding water to a pot of chili thins out the soup, this extra fluid thins out the red blood cells.  When the blood becomes thinner, there are fewer red blood cells per drop of blood.  If it becomes too thin, the person has anemia.  

Because the body naturally adds fluid to the blood before it starts filling it up with new red blood cells, a dip in hemoglobin in early to mid pregnancy is a good sign the blood volume is expanding as it should.  This should be considered a normal condition that we want to see during pregnancy and not an illness that needs to be cured.

If the hemoglobin is checked, normal hemoglobin is around 11.0 to 13.0.  Less than 10 indicates anemia, higher than 13.5 can indicate other problems.  Symptoms of anemia include tiredness, exhaustion, dizziness or blacking out when standing up too quickly or for too long, paleness, and pale nail beds.  The lower the hemoglobin goes, the worse the symptoms.

The best iron to support the body’s efforts in creating new red blood cells comes from organic iron sources.  The word “organic” in this sense does not mean the food is stamped with a government-approved “organic” label!  Organic means it comes from living organisms.  It is living iron!  The chlorophyll of plants contains this living iron.  Plants are the best at taking the iron salts (ferrous iron) from the soil and changing them into living organic iron.  

A chlorophyll molecule differs from a hemoglobin molecule by only one atom!  When a person is eating plenty of dark leafy green vegetables or taking herbal supplements containing chlorophyll, the hemoglobin number rises in just a couple of weeks.  This quick increase in hemoglobin cannot be explained by the weeks-long process of forming red blood cells from bone marrow.     My theory is that the quick increase in hemoglobin using organic iron supplements is because the chlorophyll molecules are transformed into hemoglobin.  I am not a scientist, but I bet the liver pops the magnesium atom off of the chlorophyll molecule and sticks on an iron atom in its place, quickly forming hemoglobin from chlorophyll!

Foods that raise the hemoglobin include:

• All the dark green vegetables like broccoli, green peppers and asparagus
• Leafy salad greens like romaine lettuce, spinach and kale
• Dried apricots (containing the most easily assimilated form of dietary iron!),
• Raisins, prunes, dried black cherries
• Sea vegetables,
• Molasses, especially black-strap molasses (careful, it is sweet!),
• Nutritional yeast - sprinkle on food (delicious on popcorn!)
• Egg yolks, and
• Organ meats like organic liver.

If the woman is already consuming these foods and is still anemic, she can supplement with concentrated herbal iron sources like:

• Alfalfa tablets or capsules - up to 2 or 3 with each meal.  I think of these as a compressed salad!
• Liquid chlorophyll - Liquid chlorophyll comes in plain and spearmint flavored.  I think the plain tastes like grass clippings pulled them fresh off the lawn mower blade!  But some people prefer the plain to the spearmint.  They both work great.  Put a tablespoon in a glass of water once or twice a day.
• Chlor-Oxygen drops, follow the label for dosage because it is much more concentrated than regular liquid chlorophyll
• Nettles tea - high in iron and many other minerals, drink at least a cup a day
• Red Raspberry leaf tea - also high in minerals, good for pregnancy and all times of life
• Vitamin C - 500 mg per day, helps with iron assimilation
• Hemaplex capsules, 1 per day
• Floradix liquid iron, up to 2 teaspoons, twice a day
• Ferrofood from Standard Process, follow label instructions
• Homeopathic ferrum phos - a homeopathic cell salt that enhances iron absorption, once or twice a day
• Spirulina
• Chlorella
• Dandelion leaf (good for the liver, too), up to 3 capsules per day
• Yellow doc tincture - up to 3 dropperful three times per day (high in iron and supports the liver)

Hopefully this discussion has whet your appetite for iron rich foods!  Come back next week to hear more you can do to boost hemoglobin levels in pregnancy using simple exercises!  

Blessings!

:) Deborah